COVID-19

"India is technically in stage 2," clarified Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary at the Union Health Ministry in a press briefing on March 30th. He was responding to speculation which had arisen from a MoHFW document which pegged India's current stage as "local transmission and limited community transmission phase." This came after a recent interview with the director of Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI) by Quint, which had indicated the onset of stage 3. The speculation was cut short yet again, when AHPI released a statement on social media claiming that the Quint’s claim was misleading. The post also claimed that…

Srinagar was yet to get over the shock and losses suffered from the five-month political lockdown over abrogation of Article 370. Just as schools and colleges opened on March 1st, and hopes were picking up for the tourist season, came the Coronavirus lockdown. It began with a 65-year-old woman from Srinagar testing positive for the virus on March 18th. She had a travel history of pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia and had returned on March 16th, spent a day with family members and neighbours. The incident evoked strong criticism as the lady happened to be the mother-in-law of a senior police…

By now, you must've seen the gut-wrenching pictures of migrant workers walking from cities to their homes. You can imagine what they must be going through. All of us know that Bengaluru has a large migrant population. Lakhs of people work in the construction industry as daily wage labourers. They build our city - day and night, rain or shine. They sweat it out to create everything from the Metro to your mega apartment. Large numbers of people are working in the informal sector too. Rag pickers, coolies, microenterprise owners who make a living selling anything from pani puri to…

Since India imposed a complete three-week lock down of the country, there has been a lot of discussion on the desperate plight of its migrant workers who have spread themselves thin across the country, in search of their daily bread. When the lockdown was announced, thousands of them tried to get back to their hometowns using whatever means of transport was available, and more often than not, on foot. In Chennai alone on Sunday night, when the first 14-hour lockdown took place, local government figures revealed about 4,500 workers were stuck at the city's railway station, unable to return home.…

ஒருபுறம் உயிர்களை பலி கொள்ள வந்த அரக்கன் எனக்கூறி, ஒரு போர்க்கால அறிவிப்புப் பிரகடனத்தப்பட்டிருக்கும் அதேவேளை, அது உலகையே புதுப்பிக்க வந்த ஒன்றெனவும் கொரோனா குறித்து இருவிதமான குரல்கள் ஒலிக்கின்றது. எவ்வாறாயினும் அசுரவேகத்தில் பரவி மரணங்களை நிகழ்த்தி வரும் இந்த பேரபாயத்தை நாம் ஒருசேர நின்று சரியான முறையில் எதிர்கொள்ள வேண்டிய கட்டாயம் உருவாகியுள்ளதை யாருமிங்கு மறுக்கவே முடியாது. இந்த சூழலானது, உடலை மட்டுமல்ல உள்ளத்தையும் தூய்மையாக வைக்கும் அவசியத்தையும், தனது நலமென்பது கூட அடுத்தவர் நலனை சார்ந்ததே என்பதையும் உணர்த்துவதாக பலரும் கூறுகிறார்கள். ’உலகை ஒரே உடலுக்கு ஒப்பிட்டால் அதன் எந்த பகுதி பாதித்தாலும் முழு உடலுக்குமே பாதிப்பு’ என்னும் உயர் கருத்து தற்போது உயிர்பெறுவதையும் இங்கு காணமுடிகிறது. கொரோனாவைப் பற்றிய அடிப்படைத் தகவல்கள், முன்னெச்சரிக்கைகள், அறிகுறிகள் மற்றும் மருத்துவ ஆலோசனைகள் குறித்த உண்மையான தகவல்களுடன் பல கட்டுக்கதைகளும் உலகில் உலா வருவதை நாம் ஒதுக்க இயலாது. இந்நிலையில் தனிநபரே…

On Friday, Day 3 of the nationwide lockdown to contain COVID-19, Bengalureans - who were on Day 14 of their own lockdown - received news of the state’s third reported fatality from the virus. A 65-year-old man, with recent travel history to only Delhi, had died at 10.45 am in the isolation ward of Tumakuru’s district hospital. The state’s tally of positive cases now stands at 81, with Bengaluru accounting for 41 of those cases. Three weeks into this crisis, all we know for certain is that the disease is spreading fast; we don’t exactly know where it’s spreading and…

As with all other major urban centres, Pune’s daily wage earners are among the worst hit by the Coronavirus lockdown. As Pune grew in size and developed as one of Maharashtra’s major economic hubs, the city became home to lakhs of migrant workers, all of whom are today struggling to make ends meet due to the sudden loss of all income, as construction work and factories closed down overnight. While a few did manage to return home before the countrywide lockdown came into force, most who are stuck in Pune have no access to basic needs like food and shelter.…

Earlier this week, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa announced that all Indira Canteens in Bengaluru will remain open during the nationwide 21-day coronavirus lockdown. However, the next day, the opposite was stated in another announcement, that Indira Canteens will remain closed during lockdown to avoid assembly of people. This was a shock to many since providing food to the vulnerable population is critical at this point. After much public outcry, the government has again announced that Indira Canteens will remain open and provide food to street vendors, daily wage workers, and others who fall in the low-income category. The canteens will…

On the isolated Rukmani Devi Street of Valasaravakkam, Chinnaiyan, a conservancy worker parks his tricycle under a large almond tree. The shade of the tree has always been his resting place, where he would catch a break after collecting household waste from six streets. As he opens his lunch box, a routine he has been following for a few years now, two residents turn up and ask him not to sit there. “They did not want me to park the tricycle here as they were afraid I would infect them. I will have to eat at the corner of the…

Supply of packaged drinking water in several parts of Bengaluru has been affected after the total lockdown that came into effect from Tuesday midnight. There are many sides to the problem. One, packaged water distributors are unable to fetch cans from bottling companies due to the lockdown. Two, distributors are unable to supply cans to residents who place orders through phone calls. Several distributors in the city have stopped answering their phones as the demand for packaged water has soared and they are unable to meet it. The other side of the story is that offices being the biggest customers…